Hundreds of boys from Catholic choir abused

At least 547 members of a prestigious Catholic boys’ choir in Germany were physically or sexually abused between 1945 and 1992, according to a report released yesterday.

Allegations involving the Domspatzen choir in Regensburg, which was run for 30 years by Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI’S elder brother, were among a spate of revelations of abuse by Roman Catholic clergy in Germany that emerged in 2010.

In 2015, lawyer Ulrich Weber was tasked with producing a report on what happened.

The report said that 547 boys at the school “with a high degree of plausibility” were victims of physical or sexual abuse, or both.

It counted 500 cases of physical violence and 67 of sexual violence, committed by a total of 49 perpetrators.